“What do you mean?” He broke a sweat upon her inquiry. It was unlike this girl to be interested in his life. Most of their interactions had been of the casual, passing by sort. So to even call them acquaintances would be a stretch. So why should she care about what seemed to make him a hypocrite? “Our two friend groups just hang out with each other often, so it’s just something that came to be.”

“Really?” She responded in a manner which clearly signaled to him that she did not believe him. “Look as class representative, it’s important for me to watch out the class as a fellow student.” In her eyes, there were just some things where these teens would rather reach out to her instead of an adult. A sense of being able to relate helped a lot.

“And I’m glad you do that.” Even though he never needed it, nor was he aware of anyone who actually went to her first. “It’s an important duty and someone has to do it. No matter how hard.”

“Then I want you to know that if she’s doing anything, like forcing you to do something you’re not comfortable with. You would let me know, right?”

“Um, do you not think highly of Shiuka?” While he would be the first to admit that he wasn’t a fan of how most gyarus acted. Mostly around how they interacted with people and their promiscuous fashion choices. Hakuta would certainly never class her as the type to do something evil.

“I never took you to be one who did.” She replied, not answering his question at all. It was as though she had her own secrets to guard, as did he as the boy did his best to prevent her from learning about the fact he actually lived with the gal. “I suppose change is natural for people our age, but you don’t seem to have.”

It made no sense for her that he would favor Shiuka over any other gyaru. Especially considering it was known he wasn’t a fan of those kinds of girls. There wasn’t anything about that girl in particular which set her apart from the others. She was what one would call, stereotypical.

“There’s nothing strange at all.” He ended their conversation, taking advantage of the fact they were at school. “We should get back before anyone thinks it’s weird how long we’ve been gone.” With no other excuse, she agreed and they went back to their classroom.

The rest of the day went about as expected, which was good for him. However her suspicion on his actions made the boy feel at unease all the way through to even when the school bell rung, signaling the end of their day. If she got a bit too nosy, then it would be problematic in attempting to keep their secret away from the others.

If Ino were to figure them out, he wondered what she would do with that information. The living situation where they were without their parents could prove to be an issue with the teachers, assuming she went to them first. He knew she was more for following protocols, so going to adults first would be a good idea. But perhaps that wouldn’t be her target?

After all, students living on their own wasn’t unusual. This school was popular as one with prestige. So there were a good number of students who came from outside of town in order to receive their education here. The amount of smart people here always made him wonder how in the world there were even as many gyarus attending as there was.

It probably didn’t help that there weren’t many schools in the area, so those living here tried real hard in order to enroll. Hakuta could certainly say he fit into that group rather well. He hoped that considering their financial situation, him being able to stay at home without issues would help his father. Obviously that didn’t work out at all as he had intended.

Either way, if students living on their own weren’t against the rules, nor were they out of the norm. What would be the point? Of course, if she was more of the gossipy type, then she could expose them to the rest of the students. It would be scandalous to hear a boy and girl living together all alone without parental supervision. She wouldn’t do that though, right? It didn’t matter, he didn’t want to be put in a situation where he’d find out.

Though it shouldn’t be hard to keep Ino off their trail. All he had to do was be a little careful during the course of this week and she would give up. After all, she was still the class representative. There were bound to be much more pressing matters she would have to focus on and eventually put attention on him on the back burner.

As he put away his school stuff into his bag, Hakuta said his farewells to his friends and headed out on his own as he usually did. To avoid attention of others, he and Shiuka never even came close at all in walking to her house. They took wildly different paths, though he felt a bit annoyed he got stuck with the scenic route in returning home. He was tired from a long day at school, why make him take longer to reach relaxation?

Hakuta made sure to keep checking over his shoulder. While she never put herself as the kind of person, he couldn’t be certain if she wasn’t following him. One could never be too safe when it came to keeping a secret. Especially one as special as the one held between him and Shiuka.

After his long walk back home, Hakuta entered the house knowing she would’ve made it well before him. That much he could expect after being here for over a month. What he couldn’t foresee was her sitting on the big lounge chair waiting for him, a pout on her face. “Is there something wrong?” He asked upon putting his bag down.

As she stared at him, he wondered what had gotten into her. There had been nothing he had done all day to upset her. Perhaps something else had come up between her and her friends?

“What were you talking about with that new girl?” She asked him, breaking the awkward silence.

“Um, nothing special.” He answered, confused on why she would care on this matter. Hakuta realized she must be talking about the part where he got in trouble with the teacher to chatting that girl up. Not that he wanted to do so, but Iruka keep pestering him. “She’s the one who tried talking to me first.”

“Well, what was it she wanted to say?” She asked, getting onto her feet. This side of Shiuka concerned him. Seeing her in such a stern mood made him feel like she was ready to harm him. This was another point of gyarus he always wanted to keep far away from. The part of them wearing their emotions on their sleeves. “Why did she want to talk to you of all people?”

“I don’t know.” He replied with a nervous tone. This interrogation made him break another sweat. How many times were girls going to force him into a conversation today? “I guess it’s only because I sit in front of her. Doubt there’s anything deeper to it than that.” It was hard for him to know what was going on in that girl’s mind. Iruka was someone he had only just met today, so he also had no clue on why she insisted on him hanging out when he wanted to leave.

“Hmm…” Shiuka crossed her arms and tapped her left foot as she thought things over. “I don’t trust that girl.” It caught him by surprise that she would be unfriendly with another gal. It just seemed they always stuck together for no apparent reason outside of being gyarus.

Hmm, the more he thought about it, the more he wondered if he might be treating them like they weren’t human. Which was kind of mean.

“I’m sure she’s just some friendly new girl.” He plopped onto the seat she got off from. “It’s not like you’re any different.” Hakuta could remember all the times when Shiuka would tease him whenever he complained about her kind. “Maybe she’s just someone who likes attention.”

“It might be a bad thing if she’s too much like me.” Shiuka spoke under her breath, just out of earshot for him. This was followed up with words actually meant for him. “We should just remain vigilant, that’s all.”

“Look at you using big words.” He commented. “But I agree, just for different reasons.” He told her about Ino’s conversation with him while they were gone during the break. Hakuta made sure to leave no details out in order to ensure she could do her best in working towards keeping their secret. “Just wondering, but do you have any issues between you and her?”

“We don’t really talk to each other at all.” She could count the number of times she had interacted with that girl on one hand. “Can’t say I’m surprised she’s suspicious of a girl like me, but why would I even force you of all people to hang out with me?”

“That was what I was thinking.” He agreed, slinking back into his seat to get further into his mind. She was a popular girl and he was far from being popular or even as some might call… Attractive. So there was nothing remarkable about him to want to do anything bad. “Whatever, just keep your guard up for now. I’m sure we’ll figure things out soon enough.”

“Agreed.” She returned to her usual demeanor with a smile. “Good thing we finished that up nicely. We’ll be having a guest over soon.” This was not something she ran by him earlier. Not that Hakuta was against people coming over, but he liked a heads up so he could prepared himself to hide away.

“Well, if you need me I’ll be in my room.” He got up and prepared to grab his school bag, but she stopped him with words.

“You don’t need to do that.”